Planograph co



F. M. LEAVITT.

AUTOMOBILE TORPEDO.

APPLICATION mm JUNE I3. 1916.

. Patented July 1, 1919.

INVENTOR (331W; E. blQk/Ltk,

By Attorneys, h wJQ I UNITED srarns PATENT orrroa.

FRANK M. LEAVITT, OF SMITHTOWN,*NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 E. W. BLISS COMPANY,

OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A. CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

AUTOMOBILE roarnno.

T0 allwhom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, FRANK M. LnAvrr'r, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Smithto-wn, in the county of Suffolk and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile Torpedoes, of which the following is a specification.

Thisinvention aims to provide an autoin'obile torpedo wlth means for cutting, tear- 111g, or otherwise penetrating a defensive net so that-the torpedo on encountering such .net may force its way 'therethrough. The invention also aims to increase theefliciency of the propel-ling mechanism whereby to reduce the slip of the screws and give a more effective propulsion at high speeds.

These aims are accomplished by providing the torpedo, inaddition to the usual propellerscrews at the stern, with one or more rapidly revolving devices at orlbeyond the bow of the'torpedo adapted to serve-preferably both :as-net cutters and as propellers. In their preferred form th-ese'devices are constructed as propeller screws having any suitable number "of blades and of sufficient strength, and having edges sufficiently sharp 1 ito serve the purposes of a net cutter. These propell'erscrews aresupp'lemental to the stern; propellers and afford an increased area .of; propelling surface. Being mounted in advance of the body or hull of the, torpedo,

I Lthey operate in substantially undisturbed water,-so that their operation is free from the effect. known as cavitation; Theyare preferably driven by connection with the normal driving mechanism aft of the air flajsk or flasks, and through one or more communicating shafts and appropriate gearing.

The present invention is most advantageously and preferably applied in ,connectionwith the torpedo of the double flask type, such asis fully set forth in my appli- I I "cation SerialNo. 92,869, filed April 22, 1916, 7 towhich reference may be made for a more completedescription than that herein given ofthe construction and details thereof.

In the drawings-, 'Figure 1 is a partialside elevation and partial vertical longitudinal mid-section of a double flask torpedo embodying the presentinvention; a f

Fig. 2 is a partial plan and partial hori- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1, 1919.

Application filed June 13, 1916. Serial N 0. 103,391

on the plane of the line 4l& in Fig. 1 and looking forward;

5 is a front elevation;

F 1g. -6 is partly a front elevation and. partly a vertical cross-section of a modification illustrating the invention as applied to a torpedo-of the present standard type having a single air flask;

Referring "to the drawings, the torpedo shown in Figs..1 to 5 inclusive will be first described. A is the torpedo hull as a whole, which is built up in the usual manner of sections, including the head B, air flask section 'C, a.fter-body D and tail section E. The

flask section C is made up of two air flasks C and C (Fig. 3), shown as placed one above the other andv suitably connected together, as by a succession of bridge bars F, F placed at suitable intervals; Plates G, G extend between the flasks tangenting their exterior circular outlines, as shown in Fig. 3.

Each flask may be of the same construction heretofore standard. From the air outlet opening a of each extends a tube 6, which tubes unite and lead to-a starting valve 0 of any usual construction operated in any usual way from a starting hook d. From the valve 0 the compressed air passes through one or more reducing valves 0, f, and thence by a tube 9 to the usual heater h, and thence by a pipe 1' to the nozzle of the usual turbine I (or any other suitable motor engine) for drivingthe torpedo. For maintaining'coinbustion in the heater h liquid'fuel is fed from any suitable fuel reservoir 70 in the usual manner.

The turbine shaft m is extended above and below the turbine wheels and carries pinions to, n and p, p. The pinions 29 mesh with gear wheel'g, q; thepinions a mesh with idler pinions r, 1", which in turn mesh with gear Wheels 9, g; the ratio being such that the gears Q, of each set; turn inopposite directions at like speeds These gears carry bevel pinions which drive bevel gears 8, t fixed respectivelyo'n the inner and outer propeller shafts in the well knownmanner. The V outer propeller shafts ,"J carry the" for-v ward propeller screws *K, K; the inner shafts, which are extendedwithin the shafts J. and which are not shown, carry as usual the aft propeller screws L, L. Thus-the pairs of propellers,the driving shafts and the gearing group for each pair of shafts are duplicated, the propellers being wholly outside the hull with their shaftssu-pport ed in out -board bearings u, ucarriecl; on

brackets M, M. r

. The exhaust air fro nothe turbine p'assesa through a conduit P and escapes through the usual sea valve Q, into the 3 tail section,

whence it is discharged through a conduit 1 P emerging betweenthe' upper and lower pairs of propellers. V V r The steering is performed by the usual depth mechanism or diving gear and the usual gyroscopic steering gear, which operate respectively depth rudders T vertical :As thus far described theconstructionis the same as'that set fo'rth in my aforesaid application SerialNo. 92,869, to whichraference maybe made for a more complete defscription.- -V V 7 According to the present invention, re-

if .volving net' cutters or propeller screws W,

W are mounted'adjaoent to, or i n advance of, the bow portion or head of the torpedo. These are constructed; preferably as ropeller screws having two, three or our blades, as desired, and having preferably; sharp cutting edges on'their advancing sides."

. Two such net cutting propellers are shown,

and these may revolve in the'same direction or in opposite directions, as desired. They are mounted respectively on shafts X, X

extending longitudinally through V the. torpedo head, and are connected through suit able intercommunicating mechanism with driving means, whi'ohfor simpilicity is 'pref--- erably the'same'means used for-driving the usual aft propellers K, 'L.' Asuitable way of driving-the net cutting propellers from the mainpropellin'g engine *orturbine-is that shown, Theturbine shaftm carries a pinion l2 which drives -a gear l carrying a bevel gear l which drives "a bevel, gear l5 fixed on acentralshaft, which carries a pinion" 16 whichdrives twoi gears l ward'throughthe triangular.charnbersrbe'- tween the air flasks and therespeotivesider 5 17, 17 fixed on shafts 18, 18, which shafts ex- 1 tend forward and carry attheir front ends 7 pinions 19, 19, which mesh with gears 20, 20'- fixedon the rear ,endsfof the shafts X,"

Theshafts 18, 18 are shown a'sextended forplates G,'Gr (see i 'Byjmeans of the gearing andishaft conneotions thus described the screws W,

7 driven at high speed in advance of'the tor pedo-and in such CllIQCtIOIL as to cooperate with and supplement the propell-ing reflect f encountering the target. This means should 1 of the shaft 18 maybe driven -directlyib a gear 22 which drives gears '23,; 23. fixed on Various otherarrangements offconnecting screws W lOrFWf shown? and described with f-reference of the rear propellers Should the torpedo strike a net or other such obstruc-f' j tio n, the rapidly whirling blades of the" screwsW, should have the efl'ect of. sever- V ing suchi neti lf the-wires'of the net are not 111g, longitudinalfaxes er the cylindrical are 1 i -The-head 7 v v V 1 charge and quir J u a et at' ing means for exploding this j hargcupon be so devised as to be unaffected theimere 9 5 l encounter withfthe protecting-inst f Thegii;

present inventionis'not concerned with the means for exploding the ch arge. The head if f r is shown in;Fig. l asformed with aproje'ct- V ing horn or'prong Y whichmay contafm the fuse or explodingineans;

" Fig. 6 shows 'howthegpresent invention may be'applie'd to a torpedoof'the ordinary St d i e a yp e he left-hand portion of the figure' is a 'seotion through the 5 flask "'Injlpl-ace fthejtwofshafts 1 853, l single "shaft "1 8, is *providedqwhichfis best I V V gedcentre lm e? air flaskibein ron f vided withia central tube 2l through which V V '7 7 "this shaftis;extended,i thefconlpressed f V 7 13: 0 being exterior to theztube21;;The'

the rear ends 7 of the shaftsr' Xf' which carry 1 15 the netfcutting screws one of iwh ichf is; 1 shoWn-at;W';

shaftsand gearing; mayr be" provided 7 for communicating" rotatlon fror'n the driving; means to the; forward net-putt n screw 0 While the; inventi e k y dapted.

-to the double flask-type of torpedojset forth- 3} mylsaid prior applioatiomfyet it is appli;;1 25 cable toother shapes or types oftorpedoes, f {as for exampleto'the-standard'type, an x'iff gi ample; of suchi application; havinig been' V 7O immediately severed and aredrawninto the hubs of the. screws, the sharpened edges of theblad eswill then act with great advantage ot-leverage to out the wires. Evenif the re sistanceiofgthei net shouldbe such as to breal; or .di'stort'some of the' blades of'the j 7 so p i B carries "the: usual 'explosire It will be understood that the elements WV or W which preferably combine the functions of net cutting and of'auxiliary propulsion, may be so modified as to omit or neglect either of these functions. For

example, if they were constructed as propeller screws which have such low pitch as to' have no propulsive effect, they would serve the net cutting function only.

I claim as my invention V 1. An automobile torpedo comprising propelling mechanism, stern propeller screws, two parallel longitudinal shafts extending through the bow of the torpedo and driven from said propelling mechanism, and a pair of revolving net-cutting screws mounted on said shafts forward of the torpedo.

2. An automobile torpedo having two parallel longitudinal cylindrical air flasks, forming part of the hull of the torpedo, said hull flattened to in part conform to said flasks in transverse contour and extended forward and aft of the flasks to form head and tail portions, propeller screws turning on axes coinciding with those of the respec- H tive flasks, propelling mechanism for driving said screws, longitudinal shafts extending through the head of the torpedo, and netcutting screws mounted on said shafts forward of the torpedo, said screws being driven from said propelling mechanism.

3. An automobile torpedo having two parallel air flasks forming part of the hull, the

latter including longitudinal spaces between i Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G. 

